Training methodology

Good planning is essential for the success of a training course. The following (though not always directly related to European judicial training) are examples of good training practices and may be useful to training providers.

e-Learning

Elearningeuropa.info Portal

The European Commission initiated Open Education Europa in 2002 to help transform education through technology. It has become a key forum for exploring change and innovation in education.

Open Education Europa is home to an active community of scholars, educators, policy‑makers, students and other stakeholders who use the portal as a virtual meeting place where they come together to share and discuss solutions to a diverse range of educational issues. The portal and its user-generated content offer a collaborative, critical and creative approach to looking at where education is today, and where it is headed tomorrow.

Open Education Europa is a Commission initiative which forms part of the Lifelong Learning Programme, managed by the Directorate-General for Education and Culture.

PRAG – Practical Guide on contracting procedures (EuropeAid)

The PRAG is an e-learning course explaining the contracting procedures that apply to all external aid contracts financed from the EU's general budget and the 10th European Development Fund (EDF). It explains how the Commission manages the funds and outlines the procedures applying to all contracts (procurement and grants). It covers a wide range of issues relating to the award and implementation of a contract and is run interactively.

The course is divided into independently accessible chapters. It is an example of e-learning course, available in English.

Blended learning

Improving the quality of 'blended learning' – COMBLE Project: Community of Integrated Blended Learning in Europe

The objective of the COMBLE project was to improve the quality of 'blended learning' in higher, further and business education by providing administrators, instructors and learners with knowledge, training and advice on technical, didactic, organisational and personal matters that can influence the success of blended learning solutions. COMBLE was co-funded by the Lifelong Learning (ICT) Programme.

Key results of the project include Methopedia, a wiki-based community in which experts share knowledge and experience as regards the implementation and evaluation of blended learning methodologies. The site is available in English, German and Polish.

Another outcome is an expert course for trainers (in English) on how to design blended learning and how to use blended learning technologies.

Serious games

Language Trap: an adaptive language‑learning video game

Language Trap is an innovative language‑learning video game for German final year students. They are immersed in an interactive game world that seamlessly blends language learning with motivating game play. This project, which has been awarded a European Language Label, is a simple example of 'serious games', adapted for language learning.

Legal language learning

The European Judicial Training Network (EJTN) has drafted guidelines on linguistic training (in English and in French) to help national training centres devise, plan and organise training activities for judges and prosecutors. The objective of the guidelines is to study and create tools aimed at improving foreign languages skills among judges and prosecutors in the EU in the following areas: general and legal linguistic training, methodologies for linguistic training and the comparative study of legal systems and institutions through legal terminology.

Legal practice Irish courses

The legal practice Irish courses were designed and delivered in the Education Department of the Law Society of Ireland using a ‘blended learning’ approach that integrated information and communication technology (ICT), computer assisted language learning (CALL), traditional teaching methods and problem based learning (PBL) to address general legal practice issues across a range of courses, using Moodle, an open‑source virtual learning environment (VLE). Click here for more information about the project, which has been awarded a European Language Label.

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL)

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) involves a foreign language to teach a subject that may be entirely unrelated to language learning, e.g. history lessons could be taught in English in a school in Spain. CLIL has been used and found to be effective in all sectors of education from primary through to adult and higher education. Its success has grown over the past 10 years and continues to do so.

Teachers working with CLIL are specialists in their own discipline, rather than traditional language teachers, and are usually fluent (bilingual or native) speakers of the target language. In many institutions, language teachers work together with colleagues from other departments to offer CLIL in various subjects. The key point is that the learner acquires new knowledge about the 'target' subject while encountering, using and learning the vehicular language.

Train the trainers

Guidelines on the training of trainers (EJTN)

The European Judicial Training Network (EJTN) has developed general guidelines on the training of trainers. The aim is to help individual national training institutions plan their training activities for the judiciary by providing general indications on the selection of trainers, the selection of content and training methods.

Guidance for trainers (ICON-ADETEF Consortium)

The 'Guidance for trainers', developed in the framework of the European Statistical Training Programme, provides a good overview, in English, of the steps involved in planning a training activity.

Training tips (UNICEF and Penal Reform International)

Evaluation

The EJTN recommended training evaluation form

The EJTN's Programmes Working Group designed a basic template for trainees to evaluate the training sessions they attended. The form is rarely used as it stands, as questions are usually added on the specific activity to be evaluated.

The template is available in English(19 Kb) and in French(20 Kb) and can be used as a basis for training providers designing evaluation forms for their training event.

Tools

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) resources

Training providers and trainers will find useful information in English about learning and development, training design and delivery, training evaluation, e-learning, etc. in the resources section of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) website.

Glossary of learning terminology

The 'Study on European Terminology in Adult Learning for a common language and common understanding and monitoring of the sector' project, co-funded by the Lifelong Learning Programme, led to the compilation of two glossaries.

The level 1 glossary is intended as a practical reference tool for policy-makers and administrators, helping the Commission, Member States and other European countries, and stakeholders monitor and analyse the adult learning sector in Europe by improving data quality and comparability. The terms in the glossary are those considered essential for that purpose, in particular those for which definitions must be agreed (as far as possible) and understood at European level in order for policy discussions to proceed smoothly. The glossary includes all EU official languages, plus those of Iceland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Norway and Turkey.

The level 2 glossary contains considerably more terms and is intended for use by specialists. Its primary purpose is to serve as a resource for monitoring the adult learning sector. It is available in English only.

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